Admittedly, I know next to nothing about this fine trio from the city of Bolzano, which is located a short distance from the Austrian border. A little digression, if you will permit me: some years ago, the Oktoberfest band that I play in did a gig for a group of North Italian background that was celebrating an Oktoberfest type celebration here in Massachusetts. Most of these folks of Italian lineage had roots in and around Bolzano and the group had come from throughout the United States to celebrate their gathering. Strikingly, their costume and decoration for this event was right out of Munich! It was more Germanic then Italian even though the names were Italianate. It was a trip for me to say the least. Enough of that.
These are two of the best trios written during the 20th century. Ravel's trio is a masterpiece of phrasing and nuance and this composer's understanding of the particular qualities/timbres of instruments is unimpeachable. Shostakovich is always a special case since what is on the surface is not always the inner meaning of the piece. Messages and meanings are buried within the lines and musicians with a strong roadmap of this composer are needed to bring forth a most persuasive performance of the work. One must remember that this trio was written shortly after the very public Symphony No 8 and like all of Shostakovich's chamber music, his true feelings about events and people are depicted here, and written "between the lines." Gilels - Rostropovich and Kogan capture this music definitively for the simple reason that they "knew" what Shostakovich was talking about. Trio di Bolzano are quite credible, putting forth a striking recording, but my opinion remains that the Soviet musicians contemporary with the great composer are ultimately the way to go if you want to get inside of this complicated music.
I know that the Trio di Bolzano released a number of recordings on Vox during the 1950's and I am on the lookout for them. The ensemble is all but forgotten and it's really too bad since these three musicians possessed consumate technique and musicianship. They instinctively respond to each other and this is characteristic of great small ensemble playing.
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